Critically examine the link between the teaching of English and Literary Texts.

On the other hand, if we view literature as a representative product of its age and culture, then we shall recognise its moorings in history and a specific cultural context. We would then locate literature within the context of social, political, linguistic and institutional structures that determine both its production as well as its reception in a particular age. Hence, an unquestioning internalising of British values and its literary contours by Indian teachers is ruled out under the framework we have adopted. While teaching English literature we would have to deliberate about our location outside the culture that such a literary text embodies. Such a strategy would enable us to place the text within its me work of historical formations. Further, it would also enable us to analyse and reflect upon our position as readers of that text. Such a self-reflexive perception would examine our relationship to the culture that has produced the text. The perception would also throw light on the processes that have canonised the text and have initiated its consumption in contexts outside its original site of production.